Get Booked On National Stages With These 3 Steps

Today I want to share with you how to get booked on national stages. In my opinion, you can earn more as a speaker when you are able to make an offer or sell from the stage. But for this to work, you need to have a high-quality audience. Booking national stages is one of the ways you can make this happen.

Get Booked On National Stages And Earn More

Step 1: Build Strategic Partnerships

When I first started out as a speaker, one of my goals was to get booked on the bigger stages. So today, I’m going to share with you how I achieved it, and how I handled these stages.

I got an opportunity years ago when I was introduced to a friend of mine, Loral Langemeier. She’s got an eight-figure speaking business, and has years of experience as a speaker. I had the opportunity to build a relationship with her. So I introduced her to a friend of mine who had a big list.

What I actually did was strike up a strategic partnership. A strategic partner is someone you want to develop a relationship with to share mutual benefits. For speakers, a good strategic partner is usually someone who has a large list or audience.

Speakers want to get on stages with a big audience, but there are also those who value email lists. So to build my relationship with Loral Langemeier, I introduced her to a friend who had a 200,000 email list.

The partnership actually ended up not working out. I even got myself in a pickle because my friend wasn’t able to fulfill the promises we made to Loral. She was aiming to have a bestseller book at that time, and I wanted to help her achieve it. But the first introduction I made didn’t work out. And I ended up buying a lot of books from her to help her get on the bestseller list.

Despite all that, she appreciated the introduction I made. And she appreciated my effort to buy her books. So I actually made a new connection in Loral.

Find The Communication Line

To build a strategic partnership with someone, first you have to find a communication line with them. Without access to somebody, it’s hard to build a relationship.

I managed to find access to Loral by playing middleman. I found a communication line. And even though it didn’t work out, I honored our agreement. I made good on my promise and served her.

So remember: find the communication line, and get access. I managed to get access to an A-list player, which is also what you should do. And I was able to do this by introducing influencers to each other and building strategic partnerships.

Going back to my story, a few weeks after I bought Loral’s books, they were delivered to me. And looking at those books, I thought, “Man, I just invested money in these books. How can I make that money back?”

Add Value

By then, I already had access to Loral. The next step to strengthen our relationship was to add value on something that’s important to her.

After the books were delivered to me, I received an email from Loral herself. She invited me to one of her live events, Yes Energy. I read her email and discovered that A-list speakers will be at her event.

I wanted to get booked on her stage with all those A-list speakers. At that time, I knew I wasn’t an A-list speaker, unlike now. Aside from that, I hadn’t added enough value to her that would warrant me a request to speak on her stage.

So instead, I reached out to her and asked, “How many people would I need to put in your seminar room for me to speak on your stage?” Notice how I phrased my question.

But she laughed at me and said, “You’re a B-speaker. You’re not going to get on my stage.”

I pushed through with the conversation then made a follow-up on my question. Eventually, she relented and told me that I needed to put 25 people in her event for 10 minutes of stage time.

Her event was in San Diego, where I already had a local group organized. So I called my friends and clients, and offered to them Loral’s $97 event ticket.

After I sold 25 tickets, I called her again and asked, “How many more to get 20 minutes?” And she told me, “Give me 40 people in exchange for 15 minutes of stage time.”

In the end, I got 42 people to show up at her live event. As a result, she gave me 15 minutes to speak on her stage.

Know What You Want In Return

I knew how I could add value to Loral, but I also knew what I wanted in exchange. This is an important thing to remember. If you’re going to add value to somebody, always know what you want in return.

Clearly, for this to work, you need to have a relationship established. In my case, I was already able to show Loral that I can deliver on my promise. She saw how I came through despite the problems we encountered. That’s why I was able to have that benefit exchange with her.

Honor Your Agreements

When you’re building strategic partnerships, there is always a risk of screwing up. Sometimes you’re not going to win the first time. You may mess up, but you should always honor your agreements.

That’s what I did with Loral. Even though I screwed up on my first approach, I was able to redeem myself after. I honored my agreements with her. As a result, I was able to get booked on her stage for 15 minutes.

Have An Offer Ready

During my speaking engagement at Loral’s live event, I had an offer ready. I wasn’t allowed to sell, so what I gave was a free offer to book a strategy session with me.

If you have an hour or more to spare on stage, you can typically make a paid offer. But if you only have 15 minutes and all you do is sell, your audience will boo you off.

So what I did was add a tremendous amount of value to my audience for 14 minutes. And in the last minute, I made this call to action:

“If you enjoyed my content today, I’d like to give you a gift. I’m offering a free strategy session for us to work together. Here, I’m going to help you crystallize your vision on your message and your business. We’ll also talk about the biggest challenge that’s preventing you from achieving your number one goal. Lastly, we’re going to discuss the plan and path how you can actually get there.”

Notice what I did there. I made a free strategy session offer. And I told them what they can expect from it. You can do the same thing.

I continued on, “So if you want to book, just fill out my forms and return them to me.” Through those free strategy sessions I booked, I made $41,000 in sales. Not bad for a 15-minute talk.

I highly encourage you to follow the steps I’m laying out here. If you want to get booked on national stages, you need to add a load of value to the people who own those stages.

If you’re interested in learning how to do this, check out my Superstar Speaker Training. Through this program, you will learn how to structure, market, and run live events.

I highly recommend that you run your own seminars. Why? Because you can use your live events business as leverage. Look at it this way: if you run your own seminars, you can actually trade stage time with other speakers.

I was able to share this benefit with Loral when I put her on my stage three times in exchange for a spot on hers. Through this, we were able to develop the partnership we’ve established.

Create An Asset

Your live events and your stage are your assets. They’re very useful because all speakers want to get booked on stages. Your own stage equals leverage. And in my opinion, as a speaker, this will advance your career faster.

I’m not saying this is a requirement to get booked on stages. But having your own live events business will help you build more strategic partnerships. And eventually, it will put you on other people’s stages.

In this business, I learned that you need to work hard to develop your name. You should to be prepared to give something away. In time, you will make a name for yourself. And you will be the one who gets invited to speak on other stages.

Making An Offer And Selling From The Stage

Aside from getting paid to speak, there are two more ways how you can earn from a speaking engagement. First, if you only have a 15 to 20-minute stage time, make a free strategy session offer. But if you are given 60 to 90 minutes, sell from the stage.

These two ways can actually earn you more money, especially selling from the stage. So you always have to be prepared for these opportunities.

Step 3: Attend Live Events

And of course, if you want to get booked on national stages, you also need to attend live events. I tell you, you’re missing a lot if you’re skipping out on these. In live events, particularly national ones, you will meet other speakers. Sometimes they’re even part of the audience like yourself. And overall, you’ll be in league with a higher-quality group of people when you attend national live events.

Remember and apply the three steps to get booked on national stages. These will help you widen your network and advance your career as a speaker. And because national events have high-quality attendees, you can take advantage of the opportunity to earn more. So always be prepared to make a free offer or sell from the stage.

Start applying these steps! Get to know the A-players you can connect with. Build strategic partnerships with them. Look for national events you can attend and research on them. Remember — commitment is key!

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